Cedar Rapids City Council grants extension for once-a-decade review of city charter

CEDAR RAPIDS — The panel reviewing Cedar Rapids’ charter, the document that outlines the scope and duties of city government, will extend the timeline for its once-a-decade review.

Initially slated to wrap up work no later than May 1, the Cedar Rapids City Council on Tuesday granted the nine-member Charter Review Commission until June 30 to complete its review and extended the members’ terms at the commission’s request.

Gary Streit, chair of the commission, said at the panel’s last meeting in March that an extension would help avoid a perception that the Charter Review Commission is a “rubber stamp” entity and ensure there is sufficient time to thoroughly consider amendments to the document.

So far, the commission has not recommended major shake-ups to the makeup of council or to the city’s council-manager form of government, which voters adopted when they approved a “home rule” charter in 2005.

Among the changes to explore in the remaining six articles of the charter include elections. Several ranked choice voting proponents have urged the commission to recommend the city adopt language to implement this electoral system — essentially an automatic runoff — if there’s a change allowing it under state law.

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